The end.
Yeah, folks, I'm really not feeling it lately. Between being completely sidelined by other bloggers who act like I'm just too crazy to be right, and not having much to write about here, and the fact that it's the end of the year, I'm thinking maybe it's time to shut down business for good.
Thanks to those of you who called me names, and generally held me up as an example of what not to be when you grow up.
Thanks to those who enjoyed the blog and said so, you're the best and made me feel like it was a worthwhile activity.
I'll still be around, maybe drop comments now and then on other blogs, but I think this will be the end of the formal posting.
Peace out.
Labels: blogging, enough said
posted by Ms.PhD @ 10:27 AM
71 comments
71 Comments:
I'm sorry to see the blog close down! I've enjoyed it.
Best of luck! You're smart, self-disciplined, and funny so I think there are great things ahead. Enjoy them!
I haven't commented much, if at all, but I have enjoyed reading your blog, and tried to take your observations from academia to heart, so as to at least try not to exacerbate the problems.
Awwwwww :(
:-(
I'll miss you
A bazzzzzillion hugs, jc
I'm sorry to hear that - especially since I just recently started to follow your blog.
I intend to start reading from the beginning and I'm sure I will enjoy it. I look forward to knowing what you're talking about regarding your reader commentary.
Good luck!
I'll miss your voice -- take care out there in the wilderness.
I for one, will miss your voice. I hope that life finds you well.
Oh, MsPhD, how sorry I am to see you go. This is my favourite blog. But you must find a new life, far away from the present that will not die. You have helped lift my mood many a time, and I hope you will leave this blog here for prosperity. Meanwhile, some of us will continue to fight the impossible battle ... not because we are more able than you, but because circumstance has put us on the front line, and we will only go down fighting.
Thank you for many years of interesting and insightful comments. Best of luck on new endeavors and much future success.
Thank you for all your time blogging! I found your blog late in the game, but am glad to have an alternative perspective. I'm a 3rd PhD student and haven't had an experience as bad as yours, but it hasn't been stellar either. I think it's important to have a worst-case but realistic story available to those pursuing a graduate degree... I know a lot of PhD's who regret getting their PhD.
You will be missed!
I"m sad to see you go, but totally understand. Finding your blog when I was going through a rough time in the bad environment #2 was extremely helpful. You helped me realize it wasn't me.
best of luck in the future.
Goodbye and good luck! I've enjoyed your blog and I hope to see you around the Interwebs.
Best of luck, Ms.PhD.
I'll miss your posting. I'm sorry you had to deal with the trolls and the flamers. Hope you'll still hang around on the blogosphere so I can see you now and then.
I hope you will get a better 2011 and that you know, if you change your mind youi can always just pick it up again.... a break now and then isn't too bad of an idea.
Sorry to see you go. Having you there, shouting about how bad things could be, gave me the courage to keep going when I was in a truly dreadful postdoc position.
I wish you all the best in whatever you do next with your life, and hope to 'see' you around the blogosphere.
Whilst we may not have always understood each others points of view or agreed, I am very glad that you blogged - it's a tragedy that some fields of science are such harsh places, but someone has to speak out (and remind those of us in other fields what might happen, and of things to watch out for), and you were always thought-provoking. Good luck - you're certainly overdue some!
Sorry to see you go, MsPhD. You have a unique blog voice. Best of luck.
Well I am sad to see you go. I am faced with a similar situation in science (albeit there are more women in my field) although sometimes my environment was more hostile. Good luck in the next step.
I don't think I ever got my fanny and over here to unlurk, but I did read all your posts religiously since I started reading academic blogs. I really valued your point of view on a variety of topics, even if my person anecdotes did not align.
I think it's very easy to blame the victim who ends up getting screwed over by the Ivory Tower. It makes it easier to rationalize to ourselves that it certainly would never happen to us.
Sorry to hear it- I only just discovered you!
Frequent reader and rare commenter here. I'm so sad to read this post. Thank you for your blog, YFS. The loss of your individual voice in the science blogosphere will leave a hole, and I think, will be missed more than you know. I wish you the best of luck with all of your future endeavors.
I hope that you meet with success in your future endeavors, and that you find next year to be an overall improvement on this one.
Fair winds. We'll miss you.
Hope you'll keep stopping by - your comments are always insightful.
Best of luck to you.
you'll be missed.
I love your blog and hope you will continue.
Just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that I've really enjoyed reading your blog.
I'm an ABD PhD student and have found through the course of my program, that academia isn't what it's cracked up to be.
It's reassuring to hear the voice of another young female scientist who is discontent with the system.
Best of luck to you in your future endeavors.
All the best to you! :)
I am sad to see you go, YFS. Thanks for all your efforts over the years, it has made a difference in my life. Just wish it didn't have to end. Thanks again!
That's too bad. I will miss reading you. You were the first blog I ever followed and it's definitely helped in times where I was feeling low too, and been insightful and informative in others.
What about your book, any chance of that still happening?
Good luck with whatever comes next and many happy journeys.
i for one, will miss you. you were one of the first postdocs out there who actually knew what i was going through as i fought so very hard to stay in science. your comments and emails kept me from feeling like i was a failure whose life had suddenly ended when i became unemployed, despite my best efforts to find work. i wish you luck, and i hope you respond to my email (my offer [in that email] is sincere).
I've only been reading for a month. Hopefully I'll find the time to go back through the old posts sometime. Thanks for inspiring me with my blogging and for speaking out your thoughts, I totally agree with many of them.
Good luck.
Hey there,
For what it's worth, I've really enjoyed reading your blog - you're in a completely different line of work to me, and on the other side of the world, but still, it's been fascinating getting some insights into what's really going on behind the scenes at science labs.
Wishing you all the best in future, whatever your new creative outlet will be. Have a happy and fulfilling new year!
Sorry to see you go. I really do enjoy reading your perspective on things, although I seldom felt I had much to add to the conversation.
That's a shame, I've enjoyed the blog over the past couple of years. It's been refreshingly honest, and a valuable counterpoint to oh so many blogs where problems are skated over or ignored. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours.
Just got here, but enjoyed reading some of the archives. See you around.
Aw, you will be missed. Hope to see you around.
Don't talk crazy. You are awesome. I love your outlook and viewpoints.
I'd like to email you. How can I reach you?
Hi YFS
I wanted to send you my email but didn't want it published on your site.
to email me contact
unknownlegend444@hotmail.com
Would like to talk to you.
Please delete.
Kindest regards,
I've been a fan of your blog since I found it 2 years ago. You are an important voice, you tell the truth like it is, which is often opposite to the propaganda we are fed about how science is done. I wish your blog had been around when I was in grad school first contemplating a career in science (which hasn't gone how I had expected and was told would happen despite doing all the right things). So much of academic science is a big scam, where advancing the career is more important than the actual job being done. yes this happens in all professions to some degree but academia is different in the amount of rampant hypocrisy about it. That's why they try to silence you. It's because you make people uncomfortable by telling the truth. Please reconsider shutting down your blog. It is exactly what 'they' would love for you to do.
I often read your blog. Have not posted before. It helps me stay sane. Same here in Europe. All years of education. Then you end up in postdoctoral hell. Hope you continue writing.
Best regards
J
Goodbye, YFS, we'll miss you.
You've done a wonderful service for your colleagues around the world but I think it is sometimes helpful to make a deliberate break while you figure out new directions.
It really is better on the outside. You'll be surprised how quickly you can forget all the assholes out there, and how quickly they become a tiny part of a reality they were previously dominant players in.
It's kind of like leaving high school.
In any case, I wish you every success in the future.
I'll miss your blog, but I understand your reasoning. You've done a great job blogging all this time. I've learned things from your blog and you've changed my opinions from time to time. Good luck with everything.
Sorry to see your posts leave the blogosphere. Thanks for the educating and entertaining. Be Happy!
I've never written a comment on your blog until now, but I'm sad to see you go. Also being a young female scientist, I saw your insight as mostly useful and informative, as well as, at times, shocking and funny.
I wish you all the luck possible in your future endeavors.
Hi MsPhD, I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed reading your blog. Some of my experiences have been very tough, as yours have been, and knowing that someone else is out there working their way through the crap has been very meaningful. All the best.
I've never commented before, I but I wanted to say thank you -- I've enjoyed your blog.
(Even if I still hope that I won't end up like you when I grow up.)
Good luck in your future endeavors!
I've always been wary of people who are too easily contented and satisfied, so your blog resonated with me and was always entertaining. Good luck in your future endeavors!
Please count me among those who enjoyed, but perhaps didn't say it enough. Best of luck, and best wishes!
sometimes it's good to walk away for a while. I do hope you'll come back.
YFS: I walked out in the middle of a PhD, and haven't regretted it for a minute - I hope leaving science provides you with a fresh start. Good luck.
Interesting.
I will miss your posts! :( Best of luck with everything...and try to maybe update us every once in a great while, at least? :)
Hi,
I came across your 2007 blog a few minutes ago and I scrolled down to find out how it all turned out. I am sorry that you haven't found a job yet.
I am in the same boat as you. By the end of next month, I will need to stop working on projects that I developed that my PI refuses to share with me. I think I also lack the kind of ability that one needs to survive in academia. Part of me is thinking of switching careers, the other part wants to fight for my rights....My PI said since he paid my salary he owns all my ideas...
I am sad to hear that you won't blog anymore.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.
I will miss your blog!
i'm sorry to see you go - your blog was always an interesting read.
MsPhD you are the greatest! I've been a total fan for years and I hope you write that book. Your voice was one of several consistent reminders of how broken academic science really is. I have a biotech startup based on my postdoc work which was "unsupportable" in academia -didn't seem to bother my investors! Hopefully the marketplace will be a bit more meritocratic. Thank you so much MsPhD!
I've been behind on reading, however have always appreciated your blog. Wishing you all the best!
Sorry I'm late to the party, and sorry to see you go. I'll miss your perspective.
I hope you'll let us know how you're doing now and again. Best of luck!
MS.PHD
Have you considered the private sector? I am not a frequent blogger and uncertian how to contact you off line. One of my clients is now looking for a research scientist. They might be interested in you. I made the break from academia in 1983.
This is just to say
I have written
a comment
upon this
internet
even though
you are probably
not
coming back
Forgive me
for infrequency
know I
have enjoyed this (blog)
If you live in Seattle, then I would love to take you to lunch. I have just been put through the ringer and am now questioning my decision to get an advanced degree. I made the mistake of reporting my abusive P.I. to the university and in the process learned a sobering lesson about academia. It is painful to know that as I wait for my now postdoctoral fellowship to begin, my former postdoctoral "mentor" shirks consequences and discipline.
I hope you get your comments sent to your email. I miss talking to you. I'm just getting back to my blogging. Come talk to me anytime. I moved to http://imagegoddess.blogspot.com/
Stay in touch!!!
Anonymous,
May I ask how your PI was abusive?
Currently I am deciding whether I should report my PI, and I really do not know what is best.
I am afraid just for what you describe: it will not make a difference for the PI, and might only make matters worse for yourself.
Oh I like you a lot! Bittersweet, that we meet as you fleet... but I understand, all the best.
ms. phd, don't give up hope... i found your blog when i was writing up my thesis... had i known what academia was really like, i would have chosen another field... but then again, i'm glad i was ignorant b/c the reality is no field is perfect... and frankly, i can't see myself doing anything else... i'm opting out of the postdoc experience... not without a haircut of course... yes, i am struggling, but at least, i've taken a step toward taking control of my life... i don't know where i'll end up... but i'm keeping my hope alive everyday... you're not alone...
I went ahead and reported my PI. It seemed at first they could do something for me. But then I finally got the answer; PIs run their own separate groups and everyone has a different style of running their group. As such, we can't help you.
So, on it goes with a PI that wants me to work 12 hours a day (minimum), 6 days a week (minimum).
I am sick of it and wish there was a way out.
What do you do now, MsPhD? Did you find another job? Is it related to science?
Maybe unemployment even is not that bad.
:(
There are plenty of blogs out there that tell us about how great the life of a scientist can be. Yet not everything is always jolly and pleasant underneath the surface. Most of the time we do not hear these stories as people are either already too depressed to write about it or simply too scared to mention what is done to them. So, please do not stop blogging, we still need someone to tell also the unpleasant truth about life out there as a young female scientist.
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